Fade - Fighting Fate #3

by Maree Green

  When she was almost directly beside the pissed-off blonde, who was in the process of taking a breath, she gave me a shy smile. Fuck me, she was even more gorgeous in the light of day. What the fuck was wrong with my brother?

  “Hi, Daniel,” she said.

  The blonde girl’s mouth snapped shut, and she looked from Amy back to me in confusion before her eyes grew wide. “Oh, shit. You’re Daniel?”

  I gave her a slight grin. “Last time I checked.”

  Her hands went to her hips and she huffed. “Ah, fuck it. I was really hoping to bust Ryan’s balls.”

  I laughed at that. “And I would’ve paid good money to see it,” I said.

  Amy stepped a little closer. “Daniel, this is Amber, my best friend.”

  Nodding at Amber, I offered my hand for her to shake. She’d won my vote the instant she stood up against Ryan for Amy, even if she got the wrong brother. “Nice to meet you, Amber.”

  She smiled. It was complete trouble. “The pleasure is all mine.”

  Amy nudged her, and she simply shrugged with a grin, making me wonder exactly what Amy had told her about me.

  Turning my attention completely on Amy, I gave her an intense look. “How have you been?” I asked.

  I watched her draw in a deep, steadying breath before she answered. “I’ve been . . . okay,” she said. I liked the strength I heard in her voice.

  “I’m glad.” And I was. I didn’t like the thought of her hurting because of my dick of a brother.

  “Have you been running?” she asked out of nowhere.

  A grin slipped onto my lips before I had a chance to think about it. I liked the way she tried to satisfy her curiosity without pause. “I have.”

  Her gaze was locked on mine. I didn’t think I could look away if I tried. She was fucking mesmerizing.

  “I thought you were on vacation?”

  “Kind of, but taking time off training isn’t going to do me any favors when I’m back on base.”

  She frowned. “You’re a marine?”

  “I am.”

  “Where’s base?”

  I grinned. “San Diego.”

  She took another deep breath, her gaze burning with its intensity. “You’re a marine.”

  It wasn’t a question. It was just a statement, but the pride I heard in her voice did something to me. I actually felt my gaze darkening.

  “Semper Fi,” I said, meaning it in so many ways just then.

  A ghost of a smile touched her lips. “I imagine you would be . . . ”

  I stared at her in silence for a while. There was just something about her.

  “Well, this is fun!” Amber said loudly, making the both of us jump a little.

  I looked back and forth between them and grinned. “Well, I guess I’ll let you two get back to what you were doing before Blondie here decided to rip me a new one.”

  Amber winked at me and clicked her tongue. “I’ll think of it as a warm-up. Ryan’s going to be walking funny for at least a week after I’m done with him.” She frowned. “If the pussy ever decides to show his face, that is.”

  I chuckled. I really liked this chick. “Should I warn him?”

  “Hell no! My wrath only works on unsuspecting victims,” she said with conviction.

  “All right, then. I hope you get your chance sooner rather than later.” Turning back to Amy, I softened my gaze. “Hopefully I’ll see you soon.”

  With that I turned and left them standing there, but instead of heading back to Mom’s place like I should’ve, I only moved to the other side of the park and sank down on the grass, under a tree. Don’t ask me why, but I had a slight inkling it had to do with a pretty, brown-haired girl.

  Chapter 7

  Amy

  “What the hell was that all about?” Amber shot at me the second Daniel was out of hearing range.

  I scrunched my brows. “What?”

  She gave me a deadpan look. “Amy, I’ve seen people eye fucking before, and what you two were doing was beyond eye fucking.”

  I gaped at her. “We were not!”

  “Oh, you were definitely eye fucking, babe. What gives? You like him?”

  I opened my mouth to deny it, but her statement had switched something on inside me. “I don’t know, it’s weird. When I was with Ryan, there was always something in the back of my mind telling me it wasn’t right. I mean, I liked the way he made me feel . . . kind of . . . but when things got serious, it just felt wrong—like a wall popping up.”

  I sighed. “But during the mistaken-identity incident with Daniel, there was no wall. All the little thrills I used to get when I was with Ryan were practically meaningless compared to what I felt when Daniel touched me. I didn’t know it could be like that.”

  “Hmmm . . . ”

  I looked up at the sound of Amber’s contemplation.

  “I think this needs further investigation,” she said thoughtfully.

  It took me a while to decipher her calculating expression. “You think I should get with Daniel?”

  “Uh . . . after witnessing that? Absolutely.”

  I turned to watch Daniel across the park as he sank down onto the grass. “I can’t go out with Daniel. He’s Ryan’s brother.”

  She looked at me like I’d gone mad. “So what?”

  Shit. Why did the thought give me such a thrill? “It’s just . . . wrong. Everyone would think I was trying to replace Ryan or something.”

  “Who gives a fuck what anyone else thinks? And no one who matters is going to think that, anyway. The rest can go fuck themselves. Seriously, Amy,” she said, her gaze turning somber and honest. “That look I just saw pass between you two . . . ” She shook her head. “Trust me . . . that’s an opportunity you don’t want to pass up, babe.”

  Her words made my pulse quicken. “But you heard him. He going back to San Diego soon.”

  She stepped forward and took my hand. “Just do me a favor and at least be open to the idea and talk to him. Please?”

  I looked back across the park at Daniel’s solid form leaning back against a tree. “Okay,” I said, almost involuntarily.

  “Good. I’ll leave you to it, then,” she said, giving me a quick hug.

  Her words sank in slowly. “Wait, what? You want me to talk to him now?!”

  “There’s no time like the present, babe.”

  With that, she winked and left me standing there.

  Glancing over to where Daniel was still lazing under the tree, panic quickly started rising in my chest, but I was also painfully aware that I was now standing in the middle of the park on my own. I needed to make a decision before I looked like a total idiot.

  Pushing back my insecurities, I pulled up my big girl panties and started toward him. The closer I got, the faster my heart seemed to beat, but it surprised me to find it wasn’t actually nerves. I was excited.

  Could Amber be right? Could there be that little something between us that hadn’t been there with Ryan? I bit my lip at the thought, a sliver of worry creeping in. What would Ryan say if something did happen between Daniel and me? Would he think I was trying to replace him?

  Daniel looked up as I approached, his eyes sparking with what looked to me to be happiness. It made me feel like I was making the right choice.

  “Hey,” he said, adding that little grin that kept melting my insides.

  “Hey,” I returned. “Mind if I sit?”

  “Of course not. Has your friend gone?”

  I looked back to where I’d been sitting with Amber. “Yeah, she had to go see her brother.” It was true. Kind of. Give or take a few hours.

  Folding myself down on the grass near Daniel, I tried to calm my racing heart, but when I looked up and found him watching me with a tiny grin, I gave up.

  Clearing my throat, I tried for casual. “So, you’re here for the summer?”

  His grin curved up more on one side. Oh, my lord.

  “Yeah, until the end of August,” he said softly.

  “Yo
u’ve never been before,” I said, stating the obvious.

  His smile slipped a little, and he looked out across the park. “No. My dad refused to let me leave the state, so Mom and Ryan had to come to New York if they wanted to see me.”

  My jaw dropped a little at his words. Ryan had never said anything about that.

  “It was hard,” he admitted. “I was pretty angry for a long while. Mom could never visit for long—only two weeks during the summer.”

  “Oh, my God. I never knew,” I said. Like it would make a difference if I had.

  He smiled again. “Yeah, so I’m looking forward to a whole summer.”

  I bit my lip. It was strange. To Daniel, the concept of a whole summer was a long time. To me, when I thought of the time I could possibly spend with him, it was way too short.

  “Can I ask how you came to be a marine?”

  One side of his mouth curled up, but it slowly faded as thoughts flashed in the depths of his eyes. “I was pretty angry after my parents split. I was angry that Mom left without me. I was angry that Dad wouldn’t let me go visit her. I was just angry. At everyone. I did everything I could to make them both see it too. I goofed off in school, hung out with the wrong people, anything. By the time I was halfway through my sophomore year, Dad had had enough. I came home from being suspended for the fifth time that year, and he already had my bags packed for military school.”

  Even though I’d heard Ryan talk about it before, it sounded so much worse the way Daniel said it. I guessed that was because Daniel had the emotion to go with it. The experience of living it. My eyes widened. “Just like that?”

  Again, he grinned his crooked smile. “Just like that. What he didn’t know, though, was that he was doing me the biggest favor he ever could have done. It took me a few weeks to settle in and stop being so pissed at the world, but after that, I started to feel like I belonged. I started doing really well at school, getting good grades and good reports. I knew after that first year finished that I’d found my calling. And the best part of all was that I’d beaten my dad at his own game.”

  I laughed. As much as I wasn’t a spiteful person, I did like that bit of it. “Is it bad that that makes me happy?”

  Daniel laughed too. It was a sexy, gravelly kind of sound. Different than Ryan’s laugh. Deeper. It had a kind of vibration that seemed to touch me in some way. “Not at all.”

  Exhaling a contented breath, I gave him a warm smile. “So, have you got many plans for the summer?”

  “No. No plans. The plan,” he said, accentuating the word, “was to just enjoy what time I could with Mom and Ryan, while I could.”

  His expression darkened, and I was suddenly worried about what had made him go there. “What?”

  “I just . . .” He dropped his gaze to the ground between us. “Ryan. He’s changed. I didn’t see him the last summer Mom came. He didn’t want to. So it’s been three years since I saw him last. I don’t know this arrogant, self-absorbed dick.”

  He sighed and glanced up at me quickly before looking away again. He looked like he wanted to say more but didn’t know how. I got the feeling he didn’t usually talk much, but I loved listening to the sound of his voice. Although it was extremely similar to Ryan’s, it had a kind of depth to it that Ryan’s didn’t.

  “What?” I asked again.

  His gaze met mine and locked. “I talked to him briefly just before I came here today. He was there—the old Ryan. He does still care, but . . . ” He shook his head. “I don’t know. I thought maybe this whole arrogance thing was a cover-up—a way to cope with our shitty situation—but then I remembered how he treated you last week, and I realized it doesn’t matter.”

  I blinked at him while I processed his words. As I continued to gather my thoughts, I plucked a blade of grass from the ground and watched my fingers as I twirled it around.

  “I saw that side of him too,” I said quietly. “In my mind, that’s who I was dating. I seriously don’t think I would’ve dated him at all if I hadn’t seen it.”

  I looked up to see him watching me with an intense expression. Again, my mouth decided to override my brain, and just say what was sitting on my tongue.

  “I know you said you planned to spend what time you could with your mom and Ryan, but if you feel like getting out and doing something different, you’re more than welcome to come hang out with me and the rest of the gang . . . except, well, most of the guys have just left for the tour, so I guess it’s only half a gang, but you’re still welcome . . . ”

  His grin grew broader, but there was a slight look of confusion in his gaze. “Tour?” he asked.

  “The guys in the band . . . Didn’t Ryan tell you about them?”

  Daniel nodded as recognition came to him. “Yeah, I remember him talking about some friends in a band. They’re touring?”

  My eyes widened, realizing he didn’t know any of it. “Yeah, one of their songs went ballistic on YouTube, getting over four million views or something ridiculous like that. They just signed a recording contract a few months ago and are now on tour with The Dark Hybrid.”

  I had to admit, it did sound like a movie script the way it all happened. I still shook my head every now and again when I thought about it. Almost everywhere I went, I heard someone talking about Fighting Fate, our local celebrities. And they were my closest friends.

  Daniel looked impressed. “Huh. Well, there you go . . . Good for them. I hope they do well.” Pressing his lips together, he studied me, that little grin creeping back in. “So, if I feel like taking you up on your offer to hang out, how should I get in touch with you?”

  I felt my cheeks instantly heat. “Oh . . . uh . . . I could give you my number . . . ?”

  He chuckled softly. “That sounds like a good idea.”

  He pulled out his phone and entered my number as I recited it, then shot me off a quick text with a smiley face. I beamed the second I saw it.

  Seeing the time, I knew I should probably get going. “Well, I better go . . . ” I said, pushing myself to my feet and brushing the grass off my butt.

  Daniel climbed to his feet beside me. “Thanks for coming to talk to me.”

  “It was nice,” I said truthfully.

  Jiggling his phone, he smiled. “I guess I’ll talk to you soon.”

  With that, I gave him an awkward wave and started toward the parking lot. Turning, I began walking backwards as he watched me. “Do you run here every day?”

  I watched him grin before starting to jog away from me. Without breaking his stride, he turned his head. “Yep,” he called. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  As my brain registered the fact that I really needed a muzzle for my weird outbursts of questions, and then the fact that he had more or less said he’d like to see me tomorrow, I laughed.

  Amber was right. I really needed to see where this went.

  Chapter 8

  Daniel

  Feet pounding the pavement, I pushed myself as hard as I could until I’d made it all the way to the park’s entrance. Slowing down to a jog, then a nice, slow walk, I put my hands on my head and tried to catch my breath.

  When I’d brought my heart rate down enough, I checked my time.

  “So . . . ?”

  I looked up to see Amy standing a little farther up the path. Today was the fifth consecutive day we’d met at the park. If truth be told, it was the highlight of every one of my days.

  “Ten forty-nine,” I said with a grin.

  Her brow lifted before her gaze trailed down my chest. “Impressive,” she said with a slight glint in her eye.

  As I moved closer, she started for the blanket she’d spread over the ground near ‘our’ tree. I waited for her to fold herself down on one side before sitting down beside her. She immediately held out a bottle of water for me. I grinned, taking it without a word. It was our routine now.

  After I’d swallowed more than half the bottle, I turned so I was facing her a little more. “Have you been here long?”
/>   I watched her shake her head, her long hair floating around her shoulders with the movement. “Ten minutes,” she said.

  I looked over her features, studying her for signs of stress. The slight darkness under her eyes worried me.